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He needs both hands to count up to seven.
And I wish him to Hell, not to Heaven.
He’s called Bruce, he wears ugg,
He’s a lout, he’s a thug,
And his surname must surely be Bevan.

Apart from being an uncommon surname, in Queensland, Australia, a bevan denotes an unsophisticated male from the wrong social class or part of town. In other parts of the country he is known as a bogan. Ugg is thick sheepskin used for bevans’ boots. Other signs of “bevanism” include panel vans, flannel shirts and obnoxious hard-rock music.

I don’t know when I started collecting elks (and moose and reindeers), but I think my first one was a cuddly toy from IKEA. Every year in December I bring them all out for decorating, and they always seem to have multiplied during the year. Since they’re all out and about now, I’ll be taking photos of them to post here. I hope you like them as much as I do and I wish you a merry end-of-the-year festivity, no matter what you call it!

This small (8cm tall) metal elk is, strictly speaking, not mine. I included it in a self-made advent calendar for my wife in 2009. Since then he has always got a nice place to hang near the top of our Christmas tree.

I don’t bother much about distinguishing between elks, moose and reindeers, so this red felt reindeer is an “elk”, as far as I’m concerned. In some years we hang him in a window, in others he hangs on a wall. The green star in this photo was a gift from our friend Susan, and it’s also part of our annual Christmas decoration.

For quite some time I’ve been meaning to write a diary, in the way that great people did in the past, jotting down ideas about world politics or sketches for machines that I dream up. Unlike my predecessors (I’m thinking of men like Newton or Darwin) I have no shelf space for leather-bound tomes filled with ink, so I’m resorting to a modern medium.

Like many others, I think of many weird things every day, sometimes leading me to a brilliant new insight about how the world “works” (or doesn’t), and sometimes leading me nowhere. And sometimes I forget the whole thing after a few hours. That’s another reason why I’d like to record such thoughts in this space.

I hope at least some of my visitors wil enjoy at least some of my ramblings.